1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the use of rotating plasma arc reactors to effect a one stage separation or enrichment of a gas component from a composite gas at a plasma rotational or angular speed of at least 60,000 rpm.
2. Description of the Prior Art
.sup.235 U enrichment is effected today mostly with expensive and high energy consuming gaseous diffusion plants and alternative separation devices for such include mechanical centrifuges with rotational speeds of 50,000 rpm.
These mechanical centrifuges are well known; however, in the case of attempting to use these mechanical centrifuges for gas enrichment purposes, difficulty is encountered in maintaining the high angular gas speeds required for separation, and in the case of isotope separation, mechanical centrifuges have angular speeds reaching kHz values, Whitley, S., Review of the Gas Centrifuge until 1962, Part 1 and Part 2, Revs. Mod. Phys., v. 56 No. 1, Jan. 1984, pp. 67-97. and Villani, S., Isotope Separation, Ans, 1976, pp. 207-241, and there is a sufficient angular speed of the plasma to separate gases of different weights due to the centrifuge effect. However, even when high speeds are obtainable, relatively little separation occurs per unit stage, and consequently, many stages are needed to obtain useful separation.
Further, the use of mechanical centrifuges imposes stress and strain on the confining structure of the mechanical centrifuges, with the attendant risk or danger of catastrophic container failure which can lead to possible schrapnel-effect hazards.
Therefore, a need exists in the art of gas separations to avoid the expenses associated with procuring high strength materials required for mechanical centrifuges to avoid catastrophic container failure and to avoid obtaining relatively little gas separation per unit stage when high angular gas speeds are obtained.